Being green today: ditch the extra products for exfoliation

This is part one of a series of three green ideas I’ve come across (and used!!) for your bathroom. Once again, this one comes from Japan.

I don’t know about you, but I love me some exfoliation. More so in the summer than in the winter, but I like to do it at least once a week. The thing that always kind of ticked me off about it was the need to purchase special, extra products to do it. I hate having too many bottles in the bathroom, especially when I don’t get to use them ALL THE TIME and would prefer to hide them somewhere out of sight. One for my face. Another for my body. A special lip mask???

While I was in Japan a few months ago, the immer-knowledgeable Amanda turned me onto this amazing thing:

What is this amazing thing, you might ask? Well, friends, it is an exfoliation cloth. I knew these things existed in relation to a home pedicure, but I have never seen or felt one like this.

It is, quite literally, like rubbing your skin with fine, stretchy sandpaper, only WAY more comfortable than one might imagine that experience to be. This is apparently a staple in every Japanese home, and it’s easy to see why.

Imagine: using one product for your face, your lips and your body. Imagine: not having to buy an extra product (containing chemicals) to wash down the sink as you rinse with water. Imagine: just being able to rinse it off, hang it to dry, and walk away, flushing only some old skin cells down the drain, which equals WAY more environmentally friendly than the ‘extra product/extra packaging’ option.

Granted, I have NO IDEA what these things are made of, and maybe they are made from the teeth of baby dolphins, and are therefore NOT so environmentally friendly. I doubt that, but even in the event that these are made of synthetic material (a very high possibility, given their durability and lovely sandpaper feeling), you only buy ONE as opposed to tubes and tubes of an exfoliant cream. Also, they last so long that you might only ever need one. Further, by only using the cloth instead of an extra product (or two, or three), you are taking away demand for said products, and possibly lowering the supply. One can only hope.

Also, I feel like this cloth works SO MUCH BETTER than any of the creams or scrubs that I have used, and is, of course, much less mess.

If you can’t find one in a home store near you, let me know. I’ll be back in Japan in March and will gladly pick one up for you! They are very inexpensive!